What we were built for
by random-k
Summary: In where Ari does successfully capture Max in book two.
1. For the love of the fight

**For the love of the fight**

* * *

 _Wrote a short what if for 'Ari capturing max in book 2' for Eclipse mostly. Merry Christmas  
_

 _I own nothing but my own Ideas_

* * *

He has knocked her unconscious. Her wings had been clipped. He had brought her to an empty building in the middle of nowhere. And he wanted to fight.

"The thing I love most about you Max, is fighting you. I want to fight you every day of my life."

He won't be getting that. She plans to end this here and now. Cripple her wings will he? 

* * *

_And so Max learns to fight with her wings for offense instead of air maneuvers. Ari wants a frenemy. Or friend who is sparing opponent. Hes not sure yet_


	2. To find the answers that I seek

**To find the answers that I seek**

* * *

 _I own nothing but my own Ideas_

* * *

Many fights later, during their post fight routines, when she is patching her arm up, and he is eating the hamburgers, she asks him a question that has been bugging her every fight.

"Why did you clip my wings?"

"I didn't," he admits, burger half risen to his mouth. He puts it down, before continuing.

"My thoughts were more along the lines of cutting them off of your back. I don't know who clipped them, but it was probably the better solution. Dad came with you, and told me I could have what I want, and to run with it, but he was pretty upset when he saw your wings. I think he wanted you safe and out of the way."

"Why would he want that?"

Ari shrugged, and went back to his burger.

She finished bandaging her arm, and picked up a burger for herself.

They are in silence together until she asked "What did you want?"

"You and me, with no one else interfering. I thought that way, one day we might become friends."

Moments like this remind her of what a disturbing seven year old he is.

"We fight everyday." Max points out.

"But I love fighting you. How you fight is my favorite thing about you."

At that, Max went back to eating her burger. She's not sure she wanted to know that about him.

* * *

 _Ari's characterization can be a bit inconsistent book to book, such as his ability to read and write.  
_

 _I think this one works fairly well, but tell me what you think?_


	3. For the ship of friends

**For the Ship of Friends**

* * *

 _I own Nothing but my own Ideas_

* * *

Without being capable of flying like she used to, Max has to learn to use her wings in a different way.

Using them to escape is no longer an option. Oh, the sky is not completely lost to her, but prolonged flight is no longer an option.

Neither are her wings the easiest tool to adapt to combat. It takes some experimenting, which Ari is not nearly as averse to helping with as he should be. In return, she gives him some flying tips.

She can glide a good distance, with the right angle, and warp speed still worked in short bursts. But for the rest of it she has to work on her body's strength and limits.

Ari won't let her leave. At the same time, they have stopped using lethal attacks against each other in their fights, which is terribly negligent of them. They also talk everyday.

This does not mean they have magically become friends!

Just... no longer enemies.

* * *

 _"loving to fight your sibling, is a very sibling thing to do. "_


	4. Invented for its own destruction

_"Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that Liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction"_

* * *

Despite her clipped wings, and that her days consist of working to beat Ari, with nothing else, the voice in her head, continues to insist that she needs to save the world.

She doesn't have the slightest clue of how to go about doing that. The voice certainly doesn't give her useful hints.

One day, after a particularly brutal loss to Ari, not helped by the voices pestering, she flops onto the floor and screams.

Ari is completely baffled.

"Did I break something Important, Max?"

He sounds concerned, and Max can not stand that.

"WHY WOULD YOU CARE!" She demands.

Ari doesn't care, beyond her ability to fight him. They don't use lethal attacks, and he wants to be her friend, but he's also a messed up seven year old, and his empathy is lacking.

"You've never screamed like that before." He gets quiet, and he's not looking her in the eyes anymore.

She's not usually the type to scream about the voice. She's not usually the screaming type period. At this point the voice may very well be a sign that she has gone crazy.

Delusions of grandeur to go along with the stir crazy feeling she has being stuck on the ground most of the time, and stuck in this area.

"I am sick of this place!"

The next day she wakes up feeling lightheaded, and realizes, that they are in a different building.

Ari is looking at her hopefully, and she wants to groan. This was not what she meant.

Maybe breaking his nose will get the point across.

* * *

 _Hey, I updated! Does anyone get the sense that this series had no idea what it was doing starting at the final warning, and continuing on? Because it seemed to me from there, no one had a clue what they were supposed to be doing, and were aimlessly running around. Like throwing anything at a fire until it goes out, except most of the things thrown caught fire before it got there. I think some plot might be coming into sight soon, here. Its a for fun story, but I do have some ideas for where this might end up, but the main attraction for me is Ari and Max being the siblings fighting like cannon didn't give them the chance to do.  
_


	5. Sooner will a needle

Sooner will a camel pass through a needle's eye than a great man be 'discovered' by an election.

* * *

One day, when she comes in for her fight with Ari, she finds that he apparently got bored of waiting for her, and decided to fight the wall instead.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" He screams, as he headbuts the wall yet again.

Or maybe he has finally given into the full crazy, like the rest of the erasers.

He stops fighting the wall, and begins to cry into his hands.

This is weirdly uncomfortable.

It's not that their friends, not that Max has any real experience with friendship, but Ari isn't as bad as she thought. She doesn't hate him.

Yes, he likes nothing better than to fight her, but he also materialized a gameboy from seemingly nowhere, and battled her by link cable.

It was pretty weird, and he didn't really seem to buy her explanation of the nintendo DS, but it was fun to fight him virtually for a change.

She decides to ask. The worst he could do is start again, or leave.

"So why are you fighting the wall?"

"Why would I be fighting the wall?"

"Well, what are you doing then?"

"Do you ever just want the voice in your head to shut up?"

"All the time, but I've never tried self harm to achieve that effect."

"It doesn't work." He replies bluntly. Then he looks at her strangely.

"Did… you just admit to having a voice in your head too?"

She would deny it, but it's been driving her even more stir crazy lately, and she needs to talk about it with someone, even if its Ari.

"Yes. It keeps telling me, I have to save the world , but never specifically tells me what I am supposed to save it from, or how I should go about doing that."

"That's funny. My voice, among all the other crazy things it tells me, says you might save the world too. And alternates between telling me to stop you, and help you. I had hoped getting to know you better would offer some clarity. "

"Getting to know me better by fighting me?"

"How else do you get to know someone well?"

She's not going to even touch on that point.

"That… doesn't seem to have worked out for you."

"Not really. It's still as conflicting as it ever was."

"Then how about this? Ari, will you help me save the world?"

He looks at her strangely.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Maybe the reason your voice is conflicted, is that you yourself have not picked a direction. So I'm asking you, are you going to to help me save the world?"

"Are we sure it isn't Angel, messing with us?"

"Why in the world would it be Angel?"

"She's Psychic. And she likes to mess with me."

"She wouldn't."

"She definitely would Max. What would you even know about it?"

"The voice doesn't sound like Angel. It's too loud to start with. Angel has better control than that. "

"If you say so. What do you even need me for?" He asked, abruptly switching back to the original topic.

"Well, I seem to be a bit short on allies at the moment. And I can't fly like I once did. I hate to say it, but I need help."

"Have you ever molted feathers?"

"That's an odd question. I don't recall doing so. Why?"

"Maybe bird kids are slower to molt then? Or do they not need to?"

He stays lost in that thought for a bit, while Max awkwardly fidgets.

"Ari." She calls out, grabbing his attention, lest he muse on that forever. "Will you help me save the world."

He stands there, and for an agonizing moment, Max thinks he is going to say no, and demand to fight her again.

He smiles a bit. "Well, I can certainly try. In the meantime, let's have one last fight in here!"

Ari has some weird views on friendship. But, she's not unhappy to indulge him in this, so clearly she has some weird views on it too.

* * *

 _Well finally, some things got said!_


End file.
